Niu Looks For Ad Who Can Solve Crisis

July 09, 1987|By Bob Logan.

There won`t be a quick fix for Northern Illinois` problem-plagued athletic department.

NIU President John E. La Tourette will announce Thursday morning in De Kalb that the university is launching a ``nationwide search`` for a new athletic director. The timetable calls for the hiring process to be completed by the end of November at the latest.

The delay in finding right the man is caused, in part, by state regulations that require the job outline to be posted for 30 days.

Jim Mellard will be named interim athletic director, replacing Bob Brigham. Mellard is an English professor at NIU, and he was in the group that made an internal study of the athletic department last winter.

Brigham, who had been men`s athletic director since 1967, now holds the title of special assistant to the president/athletics.

The troubles facing both men`s and women`s sports programs at NIU also were pinpointed by an external review of the athletic department, dated June 4. The panel, chaired by Kansas University Chancellor Gene Budig, concluded that NIU`s first priority should be ``a single athletic director who has responsibility for both men`s and women`s programs.``

Both studies agreed that a total shake-up of the athletic department was the only way to overcome the problems that have been piling up for years. These include alumni discontent or disinterest, inadequate facilities for basketball in Evans Field House and football in Huskie Stadium, and politics within the athletic department.

The new sports boss also must grapple with slipping attendance at NIU football and basketball games. Ever since the Huskies dropped out of the Mid- American Conference in 1986, their teams have been losing consistently.

The football team was 4-6-1, 4-7 and 2-9 over the last three seasons. Its schedule last season included Miami (Fla.), Iowa and West Virginia. The last three basketball squads have gone 15-12, 15-12 and 9-19.

The external review noted the lack of athletic department organization that has contributed to the crisis. It urged NIU officials ``to move with dispatch on organizational issues within the department.``

A new, all-purpose indoor arena to replace the 6,076-seat fieldhouse should be built, the report said, adding that ``revenue-producing sports must generate more income.``

Those recommendations topped a list of 60 in the four-page report. Other conclusions:

The highest priority of the new athletic director should be the formation of a precise long-range plan spanning a five- to seven-year period.

The plan should include a continuing high-level commitment to women`s sports and affirmative action.

The new AD must move to enhance fundraising aspects of the program.

Business operations for NIU athletics should be strengthened and modernized immediately.

There must be significantly more promotion and marketing activities, especially in support of revenue sports.

Objectives of the long-range plan must be clearly and publicly articulated by both the president and the new AD so that the goals are understood by faculty, staff, students, alumni and other potential supporters.

New economies in operations should be achieved and explained to the campus community.

Activities of booster groups need to be monitored by the university.

There should be a closer relationship between NIU athletics and the alumni association.

Other members of the review group were Gwen Norrell, Michigan State faculty athletic representative; Fred Jacoby, Southwest Conference